Skeptic
by ASKInfinity
Summary: Roxas doesn't believe in the paranormal, so when he is forced to go ghosthunting, what he finds surprises him. Akuroku. Oneshot. About halfway AU, I guess. VERY STRANGE!


So, yeah. I was watching a random paranormal investigation show on television that was a blatant mockery of true investigators. Just going for cheap thrills. Well, something good did come from it. It gave me the idea for this fic! Enjoy (and review)!

By the way, this is basically really fucked up brain vomit. Read if you dare!

**Skeptic**

Roxas rolled his eyes once again at his friends. That night's dare had to be the stupidest idea Hayner and Olette had ever concocted. Ghost hunting? Yeah, right.

"So, what am I supposed to do with this thing again?" he asked Olette, brandishing the old tape recorder she had handed him earlier.

"Pay attention, Roxas! You're supposed to ask the ghosts questions and record their answers!" Olette's eyes were shining with excitement.

"There's one problem with that, Olette. They're dead. They're not going to answer me. I'm just going to look like a moron talking to myself." Needless to say, Roxas was a pure skeptic. He never believed anything without solid, scientific proof. Olette had been watching too many paranormal shows recently, and when Roxas had told her they were all full of bullshit, she had challenged him to go ghost hunting. Hayner had suggested that the perfect place to send Roxas would be the run-down castle down the road.

They were currently standing in front of said castle, as Olette had phrased, "gearing Roxas up." This actually meant handing him a tape recorder and telling him not to come out until he found something weird. That is, except for Pence. He hadn't been keen on the plan in the first place and looked anxious to leave.

"Are you ready, Roxas?" Olette asked.

"Don't get too scared," Hayner contributed with a smirk.

Roxas rolled his blue eyes once again. "Fine, I'm going already. The faster I get in there, the sooner I get out, I suppose." He turned to face the castle. Well, what was left of it. The outside was overgrown with weeds, vines snaking up the deteriorated walls. The dark of night gave it an eerie feel, Roxas had to admit as an involuntary shiver snaked down his back. Somehow he couldn't shake the feeling that he had been there before, when it looked different.

Despite his strange feelings Roxas crossed the area separating him and the castle with firm, steady steps. He neared a doorway and crouched to step through, since part of the entrance was blocked by a piece of fallen rock.

He was in. He continued walking and noticed how strangely the building was designed. It looked as though color had never been present. Everything had been white or the cold gray of metal. As he continued, he began to feel more and more that he had been there before. He shook the feeling. He knew he had never set foot in a structure such as this.

"I guess I'd better get started," Roxas muttered bitterly. He took out the tape recorder and made sure a cassette was properly inserted. He wasn't going through all this trouble without being able to prove to Olette that all that stuff was fake, and he needed the tape to be that proof.

He pressed the record button. "Uh, so, spirits," he began in an uninspired tone, "How ya doin'?" He felt ridiculous. Talking to the dead? Sure.

Then he heard something very strange. It was between a whisper an a moan, but was unmistakably a voice. "Rooooxas..." The voice stated in a somehow satisfied tone.

"What the FUCK?!" He exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his own skin. Wait. That was just the wind. It had to be. The atmosphere was getting to him, that was all. But it had sounded like a voice. A familiar voice. But whose was it?

He sighed. He'd seem like a pansy if he went running out of the castle for something so stupid. A few more questions and then he'd be done.

"So, dead people. You do know you're dead, right?" He paused. "Who are you, anyway?" Another pause. "Is there anything you want?" After a few seconds of silence, when nothing happened. Roxas switched off the tape recorder. That would please Olette. He continued walking through the castle, though, just because something about it felt strange.

For his own amusement, He rewound the tape to the beginning and listened. He heard his own bored voice speaking to nothing. Then he heard the moan again. It really did sound as though it were saying his name. Weird. He continued listening. He heard something strange after he asked who he was talking to, but he couldn't make it out. He still wasn't scared. It could have been a sound he himself had made without realizing it. He heard himself ask, "Is there anything you want?" and then something answered in a whisper, "Come to your room."

Roxas stopped dead in his tracks. That had definitely been a voice. And it was talking specifically to him. What had it meant? His room? He didn't have a room in that castle.

Severely shaken, he began to walk more quickly through the castle's halls. However, he had one problem.

He was lost.

"Shit," He whispered, his eyes widening. He broke into a jog, his breathing quickening and becoming more audible. He circled through the halls for what seemed like an eternity until he stopped in the middle of a room, groaning.

"Great. Something I can't see is after me and I can't even figure out where I am," he muttered. He ran a hand through his blond spikes. Then something caught his eye.

There were words. He could just barely make out a phrase in the worn stone. "Key of Destiny," he whispered, and as he did, he was hit with a pang of a strange emotion. Was it a connection? A revelation? He only knew that those words held some significance to him. Without meaning to, he whispered, "My name."

His eyes widened once again at the realization of what he had just said. That was his name? But how? Why would his "name" be written in a castle he had never been inside? Unless he had. He had been feeling a strange familiarity towards the building. But still. He had never called himself the Key of Destiny. It wasn't his title. Why would he have such a dramatic title, anyway?

At this point, he realized that he had entered a new room. He hadn't even remembered walking inside it. As he looked around, he felt the strongest feeling of deja vu yet. There was no question. He had seen this room before.

"This is my room," he murmered to himself.

To his horror, the same voice as before spoke, but this time in a stronger tone, as though it were just a person standing beside him. "Yeah," it said in an almost wistful tone.

And then someone actually _was_ standing beside him. Well, almost. The figure was slightly transparent, yet somehow still seemed solid. The young man was wearing a long black coat with a large zipper. The coat's material looked like leather. He also had, even in the dark, the most vibrant red hair Roxas had ever seen. Equally striking were his emerald eyes, under each of which two teardrop tattoos were plainly visible.

Roxas's first instinct was to scream in terror, yet he was able to hold himself back. Something inside him told him that this man was nothing to fear. He knew this man. But how?

"Who are you?" Roxas was surprised at how strong his own voice sounded.

"You don't remember me? Thanks a lot, Roxas. That's the second time you've forgotten about me." Something in the man's voice sounded hurt. It made Roxas feel guilty that he had forgotten him. But there was a more pressing matter.

"How do you know my name?"

The man laughed. "You think I'd forget my best friend's name? Unlike some people, I make an effort to hang on to my memories." The man gave a sad smile. "Close your eyes. Can you really not remember anything?"

Roxas hesitantly squeezed his eyes shut, and then slowly relaxed. For some reason, he felt desperate to remember something, anything about the man before him. At first there was nothing. Then, suddenly, a name came to him.

"Axel." He gasped, for with the utterance of that name came a stream of memories. He knew where he was. This was his room. He once wore a coat just like Axel's, when they were both members of Organization XIII. He had left the Organization and forgotten everything, just like now, but he had been in a place called Twilight Town, where nothing was real. Then he had become Sora again and the Organization was destroyed, after Axel had sacrificed himself to save Sora. Axel had died.

But there was more. Axel wasn't just a member of the Organization or just his best friend. He ... loved Axel.

Roxas was surprised to find that when he opened his eyes, tears were streaming down his face. He turned to face Axel, and couldn't help himself from throwing his arms around his best friend. At this moment, Axel looked more solid than he had before. He broke into a smile and hugged the smaller, sobbing boy as a few tears escaped his own eyes.

"I've missed you, Roxas," Axel said. "I know we said we'd meet again in the next life, but, unfortunately, I didn't have a next life. I'm afraid this is the best I can do."

Roxas pulled away from the embrace slightly to look up into Axel's eyes. He had missed those eyes. "I can't believe I forgot about you. How can you just forgive me?"

"Because it's better to forgive you and be here right now, holding you, than to hold a grudge and keep my distance." He smiled again as he stroked Roxas's cheek, making Roxas close his eyes and lean into the touch.

After a moment, Roxas opened his eyes once more and couldn't help leaning upwards, standing on his toes to press his lips against Axel's. When Axel responded to the kiss, just as longingly, Roxas wrapped his arms around the older man's neck, feeling Axel pull him closer. When their kiss finally broke off, neither said a word.

Then, Roxas was horrified to see Axel begin to fade. "What's going on?" he asked in alarm.

The redhead's face fell as he answered, "I'm afraid my time here is up. My mission was to see you once again. Now I can finally go in peace."

"You can't leave!" Roxas exclaimed, blue eyes shining. "At least take me with you! I can't be away from you anymore!"

"Are you really ready to die?" Axel asked him, his expression serious.

"I'll face anything, as long as I'm with you," he responded earnestly.

The redhead then pulled him into a desperate embrace. "Then it's time for both of us to go."

The next morning, all anyone found in the castle was the tape recorder Roxas had used the night before. When Olette, Hayner, and Pence listened to the tape, the only thing the could make out was Roxas's voice saying, seemingly to no one, "I love you."

**End**

I think that's the weirdest thing I've ever written. But, like I said, it's brain vomit, so whatever. Yeah, review even if you didn't like it and tell me why. Though I think I know why you wouldn't since it's so bizarre and doesn't make much sense. Well, it does to me, but I'm the author. Anyway, review!


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